A patio heater is a device for generating radiant heat for indoor and outdoor use. The patio heater uses a Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) or natural gas as the source of fuel and the heat is radiated from the device in a circular pattern which spreads around the environment.
Today, most of the patio heaters radiate infrared energy to heat the indoor and outdoor areas. The basic principle used in such device is ‘Heat Transfer through Radiation’. Every material, when heated to a specific temperature, produces heat in the form of electromagnetic waves in the infrared range. Sun is an excellent example of an infrared patio heater. The rays emitted by sun keep travelling through space and heat is emitted only when the rays strike any solid object. Here, the rays in the space strike the earth and heat is produced. Hence, infrared patio heaters do not heat the air, but instead heat the solid objects such as furniture, floor, objects, and people directly.
Various types of conventional patio heaters are known in the prior art, wherein most of them use manual operation to switch ON or OFF the heater. The user has to operate the heater manually every time in order to switch ON or OFF the heater, which is a tedious work to the user and also there is no safety involved with respect to the user. This may cause burns to the skin of the user while igniting the heater, which is a threat to safety.
Further, in the existing electric patio heaters, a transformer is installed outside the heater, which leads to the necessity of an external connection to switch ON the heater. This becomes a difficult task when the heater is used for outdoor purpose as it is difficult to provide the external source to operate the heater.
Hence, looking at the problems in the prior art, there is a need of a patio heater with an automatic ignition system along with ON/OFF switch and inbuilt transformer. The device should also provide safety to the user.